I have decided to get a lead hardness tester. I have looked at the following; Saeco $109.80, LBT $98.50 and Casting Stuff $76.00. I only plan on buying it just once and am wondering which one the rest of you who have them use and why you like it?

Thanks

I would suggest Gussys' Cabin Tree tester, as it gives the option of testing odd shaped chunks. Someone will pop up with the URL, I don't have it at hand.

Try this grovere, www.castingstuff.com I would go with the cabintree or LBT. I have had the LBT for a few years with no troubles but as mentioned the other can do more. Have a good one.
Jim

grovere

Saeco is a very good hardness tester but it is graduated in a peculiar "Saeco grade scale".
It is necessary to make conversion into Brinell Hardness mentally or with a cross reference table.
A friend of mine has one and I note this mental conversion requires an effort when we talk.
Nobody talk of Saeco Number xxx here , which is one of the most important( or the most important) forum about Casting Bullets.

Only as reference, I saw the advertising of the Lee Hardness Tester in the September/October American Handgunner at u$s 48. Price ncludes a microscope. That means it is not a direct reading instrument like the LBT. If you need quick or a lot of measurements, to read through the microscope is not the best.

BA Shooter

I'd buy Gussy's unit. I have one and it does the job. I used to borrow a Saeco; the scale was too short, hard to judge minor differences, inconsistent results on mutiple samples from the same melt and anything I heat treated at all would peg the meter (saeco "10"). Gussy's is a far superior unit for less $$. BD

I saw in the current HANDLOADER that Veral Smith is back in business and their hardness tester is being sold again.

Send $3 to
Lead Bullets Technology
HCR 62 Box 145
Moyie springs, ID 83845

They'll send you a catalog, then you can mail in the order.

Mike

I wouldn't buy any of them. I use a single ball bearing that cost me about 25 cents and read:
http://www.corbins.com/lead.htm#hard

Works for me. The $100 I saved bought me more powder.

Brent

I'm with you Brent! I just sandwich the ballbearing between a couple ingots in a vise. Generally just dispense with the math, having a few ingots of known hardness for testing with the sample. Even with my casual method, I've never been off more than 2 BHN, usually less than 1. Works for me! None other than "The Antimonyman"(Bill Ferguson)turned me on to this some years ago; even gave me a couple ballbearings on the spot to get me started. Now, I ask you, what other vendor of casting supplies would do a thing like that? ---kid---

The round ball bearing technique works just fine for ingots. How efficient is it at telling you how hard the last Oldfellar 6.5 bullet you cast, and water quenched, was? how about checking the hardness on one of the 230 grain lee .45 TCs you cast five years ago? The advantage of Gussy's tester is that you can check the hardness of actual bullets without having to reconfigure them into some other shape first. BD

grovere

Glad you found a good and economic solution for your work.

I used to measure hardness with a similar method to the selected one.
If it is useful, the following concepts may help you :

a)Get a known pure sample of lead. Corbin says 99,995% (seems too much purity ) to make your measurements comparable with other Casters` measurements and bibliography.
If common pure lead is used,have this pure lead for a long time, as a master, to make your own measurements comparable.

b)"This method is as accurate as your sample purity and your ability to read the diameter of the dent" Corbin also says.
For ingnots any steel ball is OK, but,for measuring on bullets, it will be necessary steel balls of 1/8 or smaller than that. 1/4 steel balls require high pressure which distort the bullet and give wrong values.
(There a relationship between Ball Diameter vs applied Load to get comparable results).
A 1/8 steel ball engraves a 1/16 dent or smaller.Dents does not present an exterior surface to measure with the caliper. It will be necessary to make coincident the dent borders with the caliper edges, visually.
Two additional needs; a caliper with good resolution and threaded regulation, and an optical device, a magnifier or something like that, with a support to maintain the focus .

c)The two dents method requires double measurements; one on the pure lead and other on the prospected ignot, bullet, or sample.Measurement errors are duplicated.

Celerity of Direct Reading methods becames important when the lead is hot in the pot waiting for adding linotype or pure lead to adjust the mix hardness. It is one of the advantages of all methods indicated in your first mail versus two dent method.

Hope this helps.

BA Shooter

I just picked up an Ames Portable Hardness Tester model #1 ( http://www.amesportablehardnesstesters.com/ )at Goodwill for $20. Not bad for a tester that runs $1895.00 new. It's set up for Rockwell B and C scales, so I'll have to invest in a few new parts.

It might be cheaper to buy a new lead hardness tester.

Only store-bought tester I have used is a friend's LBT. My friend, proud of his expensive gadget, gave me a demonstration. "Here, I'll put this pure lead bullet in here, and it'll read 5." Eventually, it did, after giving several incorrect readings.

I made my own, using a ball bearing and my reloading press. There is a how-to article on my site Hillbilly Hardness Tester . Looks like it was put together by someone who was educated in Arkansas, which it was, but it gives consistent readings, within 2 BHN, more than can be said for that other tester. It does require carefully measuring the indent with a caliper and a magnifying glass, but I don't find that difficult or time consuming. A spreadsheet does the calculations.

If I were going to buy a tester, I would get either gussy's or lee's. Haven't used either but the operating principles look correct.

Just got a catalog from LBT. Mr. Smith's hardness tester reads directly in Brinell, seems simple to use and is $90.00

Thanks all for your replies. Over the weekend I ordered the Cabine Tree unit. Got it today and it easy to use once you get teh feel for it. Using the dial indicator and the chart that is supplied, is simple. I tested about 5 different alloys and a batch of pure lead to just see what it could do, and after I got the feel of the unit, it was repeatable time and time again. I would very definity recommend this unit to anyone.